#[[ bc of course you have to make your heir the vampire you just met ]]

[ruemorgue]

                              c. 19th century   -  The von Karma family.

           Currently, I am only concerning with the heads of the von Karma estate - the two who adopted Auguste into the family. Here, I claim to headcanon that the von Karmas were indeed a family in Germany for centuries prior to modern canon. I may go into more detail at some other point.        content warning for : death ( fire + alcoholism )

     Belavia von Karma

     An respected writer from France, well known as a critic of politics, the monarchy,  and advocate of women’s rights. Though, she escaped from Paris to Germany following the passing of the September Laws. She would not return until the conclusion of the subsequent revolution against the final French monarch.     Until then, she married into the von Karma family, who were of much greater influence and finances a noble family would compared to Belavia’s middle class upbringing. She gained a taste of exploration from her husband, and accompanied by her inspirational works of critique and philosophy, would also be published journals on her own insight during these travels. Despite attempting to assimilate to the nobility she married into, her major flaw finds itself in her tendency to speak her mind unfiltered. Especially in learning German and influence of interest in the cases Heinz works on, she becomes incredibly popular in Germany as well - bringing the salon culture by hosting at the von Karma estate with attendance encompassing many leading political and literary circles.    She made a point to have her adopted son receive studies fit only for a noble, especially on the literature and reading side of things. However, she was strict in controlling what sort of literature Auguste consumed, she was generally lenient as she noticed his hobby with reading and an open mind for philosophy.    Following the death of Heinz, Belavia would take Auguste and move back to Paris, where she would never recover from the tragedy ( as for herself, she believed it was murder, and it was due to her lack of filter and fervent pursuit in critique and commentary of the powerful). Instead of rising to the occasion and aiding her son to become the head of the family, she instead leaves him with a small portion of the family fortune to live in small accommodation in the city and attend Collège de Sorbonne while she retreats to a quiet convent in short retirement from writing, where she would spend her days living in wasting splendor exceedingly faster than the fortunes could handle. By the time Auguste graduated, Belavia had already dissolved two-thirds of the von Karma wealth on travels and wine alone.. Slowly and surely, she fades from the public mind, forgotten as what she once was, and would eventually die due to liver complications due to excessive alcoholism.

Heinz von Karma

Heinz von Karma is the third patriarch of the von Karma name, as his grandfather adopted the name out of reverence for a tutor of his in Japan. Since then, a replica of this Japanese mentor’s blade is the von Karma family heirloom. Though carrying the legacy and practitioner of swordsmanship, he also has an amateur hobby as an archaeologist and hunter of legends. In one of his ventures to an island right off the British mainland (where would be the location for Labyrinthia in the future) is where he discovered Auguste, during an exploration for the legends of a lost, ancient civilization. It would be his idea to take in the mysterious Auguste, and eventually decide upon considering him the heir to the family. This meant Heinz would train Auguste in swordsmanship and make him a sort of protégé prosecutor. Though, the training would never be complete and the replica of the Karuma would never be handed over. As law practitioners, the von Karmas valued observation and the theories based on a complete list of evidence, and exposing the truth that comes from it. This is the definition of the ‘perfect trial’. In the unfortunate turbulent times he was born withing, Heinz was still adamant on upholding these values as a prosecutor, in the face of bribed attorneys and tight-lipped officials that would time and again be brought to the stand.   In the troubles incoming 1850′s Germany, he would succumb to  a fire that was suspected to be arson, being taken along with most of the von Karma estate, with all of its valuables.

Arsène von Karma

Auguste's adopted brother, and the 'Minister D' who was featured in the final story of Poe's stories : The Purloined Letter. A minister of foreign affairs in France, he's mostly been away from the family since his oppurtunistic nature found himself looking to the instability of the nation. He's said to have crudely wronged Auguste once, so bad it may be cause of the only grudge Auguste had ever harboured. Though at the same time, as Auguste had been written in the will to replace Arsène as heir to inheritance, it may not have been so one-sided. What also isn't one-sided is the level of wits the two possess, though the use of that wit could not be more different.